Archived press release

water wasters

17 August 1995

Friends of the Earth today called for a radical change to the regulation of the privatised water companies and said that a national programme of domestic metering would not prevent rivers being sucked dry or ensure future water supplies[1]. The new Environment Act gives the water companies the duty of promoting efficient water use by its customers[2]. FOE has proposed that water companies should also be under a legal duty to conserve water and use it efficiently.

Roger Lilley, Industry and Pollution Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said:

"It is not enough to just tell consumers to obey hosepipe bans; the Government should force the water companies themselves to act responsibly. We warned the Government as long ago as 1992 of the urgency of the situation but have seen little initiative since then."

Friends of the Earth has written to the Secretary of the Environment John Gummer arguing that:

Water companies should be set statutory targets for reducing water loss from mains supplies

Water companies should be set statutory targets for reducing water consumption[3].

Roger Lilley continued:

"We won't be able to bring demand for water into line with what the environment can deliver while the water companies must sell more water to sustain their profits."

Friends of the Earth has also recommended the following to Government:

Statutory Minimum Acceptable Flows should be set for rivers

The Government should overhaul the system for granting and revoking abstraction licences in order to allow the NRA to revoke licences without having to pay compensation to the licensees

The results of groundwater abstraction monitoring should be placed on a public register.

There should be a review of planning policy to ensure that new development is located in areas that can offer adequate water supplies without compromising long term availability.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

[1] Parliamentary Office and Science and Technology "Dealing with Drought" February 1993 p.66: for the Thames region the report predicts that current (1990) demand will grow from 4024 million litres(Ml/d) per day to 4431 in 2002. Of this figure it predicts that 670 Ml/d could be saved by leakage control against only 208 Ml/d by domestic metering.

[2] Environment Act 1995 Part IIIA: promotion of the efficient use of water

[3] In contrast to the situation in England and Wales, in some states of the USA water companies are given a duty to reduce per capita consumption. For example, in Arizona, Tucson Water is now required by law to reduce per capita consumption, although how the company achieves this is not specified. Failure to reach specified targets results in fines of up to $10,000 per day. (Kulakowski S and Martin W E, 1991. Water price as policy variable in managing urban waste water use: Tucson, Arizona. Water Resources Research vol 27no 2 p.157-166).

The Dutch water supply company association (VEWIN) has drawn up a program aimed at reducing consumption of drinking water by 10% by the year 2000. Information campaigns and promotion of products such as water saving shower heads seem to be producing results (Environmental news from the Netherlands 1992 no 3 p. 7-10).

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust